


Hugs And Kisses

by kuonji



Series: Points In Common, side stories, misc. stories, AU story [9]
Category: C6D - Fandom, Wilby Wonderful (2004)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, POV Original Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-27
Updated: 2011-11-27
Packaged: 2017-10-26 14:19:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/284264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuonji/pseuds/kuonji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seventh of the Side Stories for Points In Common.</p><p>
  <i>His name is James, but his parents call him Jim or Jimmy. Daddy tells him sometimes that he's named Jim because Mummy would divorce him if he named Jim, 'Huckleberry'.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hugs And Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative Links:  
> <http://kuonji14.livejournal.com/32666.html>

His name is James, but his parents call him Jim or Jimmy. Daddy tells him sometimes that he's named Jim because Mummy would divorce him if he named Jim, 'Huckleberry'. Jim laughs because that's a funny name. He asks if he can have a sister named Strawberry, because he likes strawberries. Mummy says, no.

'Divorced' means to make it so you aren't married anymore. It's something very sad.

'Married' means to make it so that you can be with someone forever and ever. It's different from the way your parents will be with you forever, or the way your uncles will be with you forever. Mummy says getting married is how you make your friend into part of your family. But you can only choose one person to get married to.

Jim doesn't think that's fair, because he has two best friends. Daddy laughs and says that maybe one day he could marry both of them, but then Mummy hits him on the shoulder and tells him to stop it.

Uncle Dan says that if you marry somebody, you get to live with him and play with him all the time. But you have to hug him a lot and tell him you love him every day.

You also have to kiss him.

Nobody tells Jim that part, but he figures it out on his own. Mummy and Daddy kiss. Uncle Walter and Uncle Dan kiss. Rapunzel and Flynn kiss, too, and Mummy explains to him that they get married at the end.

Flynn is also named Eugene. Some people have two names. Jim's name doesn't count. It's only a shorter name for James.

Uncle Walter has another name. Everyone calls him 'Duck'. That used to confuse him when he was little, because he didn't know that one name can go with different things. He doesn't remember, but his parents like to tell people how he wouldn't eat duck meat when he was little because he thought it was Uncle Walter.

Uncle Walter tells Jim that Duck is his superhero name. Whenever Uncle Walter says that, Uncle Dan tells him that Uncle Walter is crazy. Usually, he kisses Uncle Walter right after.

Kissing between married people isn't like kissing your parents. You have to kiss on the mouth.

Jim thinks that makes sense, because if you can do something yucky like that every day, it must prove that you love the other person very much.

'Prove' means to show that something is true. Jim is going to be a police officer one day, just like Daddy.

Jim tries kissing Rowan and Ned once. Mrs. Norton sees them, and she gets mad. She tells them that boys shouldn't kiss each other, and that boys can't get married to each other. Jim tells her that she is wrong, because he knows that they can. She makes them sit down in a row and repeat after her, _"Boys marrying boys is wrong."_

Mrs. Norton looks like a walrus when she's angry. Jim thinks she is funny.

Daddy gets really mad, though, when Jim tells him about what happened later at dinner. He calls Principal Henri and he uses his Tough Voice on him.

That Saturday, Mummy makes pancakes and gives him the biggest one. They eat while Daddy goes jogging with Uncle Walter. 'Jogging' is running a lot so that you stay thin. Kids don't need to do it because they are hyperactive. 'Hyperactive' means you eat too much sugar.

When Daddy comes back, Uncle Walter is with him. He sits down on the couch with Jim, and he tells Jim that Mummy is right, marriage is to make a friend your family. But it has to be a special kind of friend, and you can't know which friend is special that way until you are older. Jim doesn't understand.

Daddy hugs him and tells him that's okay. The important thing is, he and Rowan and Ned can still be together forever even without getting married. He tells Jim that he and Uncle Walter are best friends, and they've been together since before Jim was born.

That makes Jim happy. He didn't know that grownups could have best friends, too.

He asks if grownup best friends have to kiss. That makes Uncle Walter and Daddy laugh a lot. Daddy tells him, no. He says that you can't kiss someone on the mouth unless you are married to that person, or unless maybe the person you are married to says that it is okay.

Mummy says that it is _not_ okay for Daddy to kiss Uncle Walter. Then she says, all right, maybe she would let him if Uncle Walter will kiss her, too.

Uncle Walter gets very red and tells Jim that his parents are crazy, just like how Uncle Dan does. Except, he doesn't kiss Mummy or Daddy before he leaves.

On Sunday, Jim goes to the playground with Rowan and Ned. Ned says that he's not allowed to kiss other boys anymore. Jim tells him that's okay, because grownups can have best friends, too, and they don't have to kiss. Mrs. Lee tells them he is right, and she buys them all ice cream.

On Monday, Mrs. Norton takes Jim aside while all the other kids are painting. She asks him if he spends a lot of time with Uncle Walter and Uncle Dan. He says, yes. She asks him if they touch him. He says, yes. She asks him if they ever take his clothes off. He says, yes. Even though he is almost five and a _half_ , and Ned's parents let him take a bath by himself sometimes, Mummy and Daddy still won't let him.

Mrs. Norton doesn't let him paint. She makes him stand all by himself in the corner while she calls Principal Henri. They tell Jim to stay where he is, and they talk a lot, and then Principal Henri calls people on the telephone.

Jim starts to cry.

Daddy shows up a lot later. He's wearing his police uniform with the pretty, shiny Chief's badge. He picks Jim up like he's a baby. Jim tries to hide his head in Daddy's shoulder, but he can't stop crying. His head hurts and his throat hurts, but he can't get down to go to the drinking fountain. Mrs. Norton tells everybody to keep painting, but everybody is staring at them.

Daddy smells good, and that makes Jim feel better, but Daddy's talking very, very loud at Mrs. Norton and Principal Henri. He says some Bad Words. Jim doesn't get the chance to tell Daddy that he wanted to paint a dinosaur for Mummy today, but he had to stand in the corner, and now the other kids are going to use up all the green paint.

Mummy shows up after a while. She is very angry and very upset and very worried. She takes Jim from Daddy and she kisses him a lot and then she takes him to the car.

Jim tells her he's sorry. She says that it isn't his fault. She takes him home and gives him macaroni soup with stars. Then she tells him that a lady is going to talk to him now and it is very important that he tell her the truth.

Daddy comes back with the lady. She is taller than Mummy and she is wearing a suit like Mummy does. Her voice sounds nice. Mummy sits down on the couch with Jim in her lap, and Daddy sits next to them and puts his arm around Mummy.

The lady asks Jim a lot of questions about Uncle Walter and Uncle Dan.

A lot, lot later, the lady leaves.

Jim is so tired that he doesn't even complain when Mummy puts him to bed right away. She tells him that he doesn't have to go to school tomorrow.

The next day, Daddy doesn't go jogging. He wakes Jim up, and he tells him funny jokes. He and Mummy let him play with his patrol car in his pajamas. Mummy even lets him make the siren noises. It's like Christmas or his birthday. They have milk and bacon and French toast for breakfast. It took a long time for Jim to figure out that Rowan and Ned also have French toast, not Cartwright toast or Lee toast.

Uncle Walter and Uncle Dan come visit after breakfast. Daddy tells them he is sorry. He says that this isn't necessary. 'Necessary' is a big word that means you have to do something.

Uncle Walter gets down and says hi to Jim. Jim is scared because Uncle Walter isn't smiling like he usually is, but he says, hi, back. He asks Jim how he is doing. Jim says, fine. Then he asks Jim if he minds when he and Uncle Dan help him take a bath. Jim says that it's okay if Uncle Dan does, but he doesn't like it so much when Uncle Walter is there.

Uncle Dan gets down and he puts his hand on Uncle Walter's shoulder, and he says to Jim, why is that, Jimmy? Jim tells him, because Uncle Walter always makes him wash between his toes. Uncle Walter asks him, is that all? So Jim tells him, also, Uncle Dan plays with the tugboats with Jim and makes the funny noises.

Uncle Walter smiles and says that he will try to remember to make the noises, too, but he will still make Jim wash between his toes and is that okay? Jim says, does he have to? Uncle Walter says, yes. So Jim says, okay.

Then Uncle Walter says, "You had a rough day yesterday, didn't you?" and Jim starts to cry again, just a little bit.

Jim tells him all about what happened.

Uncle Walter rubs Jim's hair. Then he sits down on the floor and he pulls Jim into his lap and he hugs him really, really hard. He tells Jim that there are brown dinosaurs and red dinosaurs and purple dinosaurs and blue dinosaurs and dinosaurs with every other color, too. And every one of them is just as good as a green one.

Jim says he knows that, but Mummy likes green best, so he wanted to paint a green one, and now he can't.

Everybody laughs.

Jim thinks that they are laughing at him, and he doesn't like it. But then Uncle Walter rubs his hair again, and he kisses Jim right above his ear. Then Mummy takes him and hugs him, too, and she tells him she has a tube of grownup paint and a grownup brush that she will let Jim use. Just this once.

So Jim knows that everything is okay after all.

  
END.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I don't know if anyone caught it, but James is actually named after Carol's father.  
> A/N: This story came to me as soon as I decided to write side stories for Points In Common.  I am very fond of it because it gives a glimpse of the future while leaving plenty of room for the reader's imagination.  I also like it because the characters that we already know are still here, but seen through the uniquely open and yet limited thought processes of a child.
> 
> My original Plan for the side stories was simply to show the pov of the two spouses -- Dan and Carol -- and use them to fill out some ideas that I had to cut out of the original story.  Jimmy's story, Hugs And Kisses, was added to round out the set of three.  Again, I don't know what happened, but these stories exploded out from the inside.  Dan's story got longer, Carol's story doubled.  Sandra's story and all the little 'commercial breaks' sprang out of nowhere.  Jimmy's story was the only one that remained virtually unchanged.  I wrote it all in one day, and in fact, it was the first of the side stories completed.  Maybe that's another reason I like it so much.
> 
> There will be one more side story after this one, but I thought I would say my thank yous here where it was originally going to end.  This has been a fantastic series to write.  Thanks to you all for sharing the ride. :)
> 
> * * *
> 
> If you enjoyed this story, you might try these:  
> [All Grown Up](http://community.livejournal.com/starskyhutch911/480076.html) (Starsky & Hutch), by kuonji  
> [Best Freinds Forever](http://kuonji14.livejournal.com/7129.html) (Stargate Atlantis), by kuonji  
> [Family Portrait](http://www.mrks.org/~journey/fiction/fp.html) (Due South), by Journey  
> [Baby's First Trick-Or-Treat](http://ds-flashfiction.livejournal.com/169765.html) (Due South), by Dira


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